Thank YOU for teaching me something I did not know. I hope you didn't find my exercise in diagonal hypocrisy too distasteful. Sorry to TS if he thought I implied he was out of training when he wasn't; he clearly is, and it's also none of my business. Sorry also if my comment that you (TS) are qualified to lead your forum seemed sarcastic. It wasn't.

Per the request to provide a quote of my years old apology to Rene:

Originally Posted by Matt Phillips

Rene, I appologize for making your life harder in any way, at any time. Thank you for your advice.

The site can be what ever it wants to be, and it's none of my business. I have projected my own difficulties finding the balance between active posting and active training onto the community, when really I should be worrying about meeting my own stated training goals.

What other people choose to do or not do is their business, not mine.

I should be clear. I don't know you and I should not make or imply any character judgment about you. When I did, that was out of line. I apologize. My objections to several things that you wrote and implied stand, but I'm in no position to offer judgments of your character.

Thank you and same here. My experience is that only certain people post well enough to give a solid, accurate impression of themselves over the internet, and only certain people read shrewdly enough to get solid impressions from the average poster. I am neither kind, and so I am sorry I judged you to be a "douche" when I clearly have no basis for believing so.

Last edited by Matt Phillips; 12/14/2012 2:14am at .

Now darkness comes; you don't know if the whales are coming. - Royce Gracie

Quick example of you being wrong and never graciously admitting anything: the fabled 600 hours of annual training a year Zenodkan claimed to have started after his fateful Throwdown video, that you—in order to critique his vid—positioned prior to his video.

As I have said numerous times here, Zendo is training hard, and he and I have long since become friendly. I keep in touch with him on fb, and I have zero interest in kicking up any dust over his past training history. That does not mean that I won't respond to other people cynically bringing it up in an attempt to give the wrong impression. When I posted the video of Lebell and Zendo, Zendo's bio had already listed him as an assistant instructor of Muaythai for years. When I commented about his sparring with Makan, Zendo had been training BJJ for most of the previous year (and supplementing with Judo) according to his own posts. He created the context for other members of the site to believe his serious training had begun well before Euromega 2009, and not immediately after it.

On top of that, instead of simply correcting me with a "that was then, this is now" type comment, he got very angry and threatened me. I said he looked terrible in the video, and he did. Looking back at that video, I am sure he would agree. Everybody looked terrible at some point in the past.

As for this repeated hammering on "600 hours", I searched and it amounts to this single fragment of a post

Originally Posted by Matt Phillips

Dude, I commented that his skills looked "pretty terrible" for someone training 600 hours a year

When someone says you looked terrible in the past you can post a new vid, fight pics, show medals, promotions, or simply ask other people who train with you to comment on the thread. Omega rolled with me twice, some months apart. I asked him if I got better and he said "your defense was better". Awesome, because that's what I was shooting for: better sub defense. i would have liked if he also said my positional game was better too, but he didn't.

There are numerous ways one can respond to "Dude you looked like **** in that vid from last year" that show progress and put the issue to bed. If you let a thread go on and on for weeks without doing any of these things, it will create the wrong impression. Just as Hiro and TS have given Lebell reason to doubt the seriousness of their training here by posting in a way that he finds sketchy. The way one responds to criticism here gives an impression, and if that impression is inaccurate that it's a good idea to shine some evidential light on the matter and show yourself accurately. This is Bullshido; evidence is important.

I believed Zendokan's description of his training the moment he showed evidence of it by starting a training log. I believed him, I supported him, and I still do. What happened on that train wreck of a thread was a culture clash between people who were active investigators, and people who weren't. Zendo acted and reacted in a way that Bullshido investigators reflexively find suspicious. He took his time undoing that impression, and when he finally did every one did a 180 and supported him fully.

That is, you kept saying that he looked terrible for someone who trained 600 hours a year by pointing to a vid he appeared in before he started training 600 hours a year. This was pointed out to you any number of times, but you never actually recanted—you just said that you had recanted. And given your rehashing of Zendo here in this thread, you've certainly not graciously moved on.

And this is why I ask people for quotes. What you have, my friend, is an impression of what happened, and a subjective one at that. What happened with Zendo was an unfortunate but understandable mistake, and I apologized for my role in it. I know this does not fit your narrative that it was an unjustified personal attack for which I never apologized, but that's really your problem and not mine.

Indeed, you also started arguing with Lebell, who had very wisely suggested that we all wait for your video before taking your estimations of training time and ability seriously back then. And indeed, your big video featured eighteen seconds of waddlefucking around before you tapped out.

You claimed earlier that my performance against Kintanon shows that I was not qualified to critique Zendo's kickboxing. Setting aside that our GS was 3 seconds old when Kint entered to grappling range, what is the basis for your opinion? Because you're claiming zero kickboxing experience.

Just to be clear: you, as someone with no known relevant experience, are judging my ability to eyeball beginning level kickboxing by my lack of grappling ability.

Oh, and then you dared step up to Kin almost immediately after tapping. Speaking of grace, and moving on.

That was not, but THIS is:

Originally Posted by Matt Phillips

Fair enough. You were the better man, and I am extending my hand over the interwebz.

Originally Posted by Kintanon

I'll accept that... We may not ever be bestest friends, but I can certainly agree to a virtual handshake and a cessation of dramawhoring from the both of us.

Oh, and...

Originally Posted by Matt Phillips

Rene, I appologize for making your life harder in any way, at any time. Thank you for your advice.

Originally Posted by Rene "Zendokan" Gysenbergs

Thanks, no problem at all.

You're spinning narratives and you should stop.

Last edited by Matt Phillips; 12/14/2012 12:14pm at .

Now darkness comes; you don't know if the whales are coming. - Royce Gracie

Just as Hiro and TS have given Lebell reason to doubt the seriousness of their training here by posting in a way that he finds sketchy.

That was the stupidiest thing of the thread for me, I was just reading you asking him, and him playing grabass, then I thought I'd ask cos TS should know im not out to get him or anything, and then the weirdness really started.
There was some really awesome bitchin and hissyfittin in this thread.

That was the stupidiest thing of the thread for me, I was just reading you asking him, and him playing grabass, then I thought I'd ask cos TS should know im not out to get him or anything, and then the weirdness really started.
There was some really awesome bitchin and hissyfittin in this thread.

By you.

EDIT: "out to get him" ? *chuckle* Don't you people know this thread is SERIOUS?